24 replies to this topic

[tiger99]

The mounts are not too thick, they need to be like that, and settle down properly after a while.

Your vibration is very unlikely to be due to the engine mounts. You should consider very carefully whatever other work you have done recently, to see if that could be the cause.

[Joseph-C]

why would you need to replace engine mounts? what are the symptoms of bad mounts?

[tiger99]

The engine moves about too much, especially under acceleration. In bad cases things will knock against each other, as they do with worn bushes in the steady bars. Various things may break, depending on model and how much space there is. The driveshafts may scrape on the subframe, and the handling will be degraded because the heavy mass of the engine will be moving about. And more....

All the stuff that you might expect with the engine loose.

[Joseph-C]

ok cheers for that

[aidan8888]

I would have it on axle stands, much easier with the wheels off. As for the drivers side mount I didnt have to take the clutch cover off, but the time you save here is perhaps wasted fiddling with bolts.

I have E.T fingers so that made it a bit easier.

Have you thought about replacing your brake pipes at the same time? Much easier to do with the rad off, I would also think about a coolant swap.

[aidan8888]

i have to do this son when my mini returns from getting a respray could this be done easyer if it was on the small ramps you get then jacking the engine up fomr there ?

I found axle stands to be fine, just gave a bit more clearance and the ability to take the wheels off.

I am about to tackle this job myself today...I have the mounts and i cant crack on with anything else yet so ive decided to do these.

In the haynes it says for the drivers side mount that a lot of stuff needs removing and to jack the car up and put it on axle stands.
My drove slopes towards the road..will i be able to do it without the axle stands as above??

cheers

On the drivers side I managed to tackle it with just removing the washer bottle, but I have long skinny fingers!

[Tom7]

The mounts are not too thick, they need to be like that, and settle down properly after a while.

Your vibration is very unlikely to be due to the engine mounts. You should consider very carefully whatever other work you have done recently, to see if that could be the cause.

After your post I have decided to check other things, the engine itself is a very sweet 23k unit original to the car. Timing and mixture is spot on and to touch the engine when idling you can feel its not creating lots of vibration. I had put MPI steady bushes in the top steady and renewed the bottom steady bushes for normal genuine rubber items. I could not work out why the vibration at idle is rattling everything, So I replaced the top engine steady bushes for normal rubber items which made no difference.

I have now bought and installed another set of mini spares engine mounts and they seem better. Although they are compressed when fitted it is as much as I would expect and the vibration is reduced greatly. Re-installing the MPI top steady bushes has caused no increase in vibration. I can only conclude one or both of the old mounts was to hard or too thick. At least I can sit at traffic lights without pulling my hair out.

[grayclassic]

Any one any experience with the MPI air conmini, lots of stuff in the way, I would like to do it from underneath... answers on a post card please!

[Spider]

I've always found it easier and faster if you remove the Clutch Cover on that end and the Radiator of that end to change them out. They can be done with these in situ and I have tried that, but found it less frustrating to do it the way I've mentioned here.

[tiger99]

The way to overcome that problem is to do up the radiator end last. With one of the long through bolts in the gearbox to mount bracket removed and the other loosened, you can angle the bracket sufficiently to be able to wiggle the subframe bolts in loosely with the gearbox jacked. Then let it down, a little bit more wiggling, and the long bolt will go back in.

They are intentionally designed that way so that the rubber is loaded correctly when they are in place.